The Thing Between Us
by Mae Snapdragon
Summary: Ichigo hates white day. It's not like he has anyone special to give a present to anyway, right? So why is he trying to find something for Rukia? And why does he have a sinking feeling that bunnies will be involved?


**Note: To those who read my Valentine's Day IchiRuki fanfic: this is an unrelated White Day fanfic. It's a different storyline than the VD one, and they are unconnected.**

**I still hope people like it! Disclaimer: if I owned these characters, I wouldn't be posting this on a FANFICTION site.  
**

* * *

Kurosaki Ichigo hated white day.

He glared at the window display of the store, feeling the crowds and the cold jostle around him on the sidewalk, the merchandise winking at him coquettishly behind the glass. Chocolates and flowers and stuffed animals and dozen of heart-shaped things, all of them white, were piled in the window of the storefront, looking sickeningly out at him. He sighed, hunching his shoulders and glancing around him in paranoia. He'd never live it down if anyone saw him entering this shop.

Kurosaki Ichigo hated white day.

Why was he even here? She had only given him friendship chocolate on Valentine's Day anyway. Heck, she had given some to his Dad too! Of course, not that he wanted anything more than friendship chocolate from her. That would just be weird. So, why was he trying to find something to give Rukia on white day?

Ichigo stalked up and down the aisles of the shop, trying to find something to get her that wouldn't be lame. He didn't want to look stupid, but he wanted her to like it. He wanted her-

He rounded a corner of an aisle and spotted it, sitting alone on a "For Sale" table. A small, white bunny plushy, the last one there. He knew instinctively that Rukia would love it. Ichigo crossed the store in two strides, but just as he grabbed it, another hand landed upon it. He whipped his head up in surprise, ready to pulverize whoever was on the end of that hand.

"Renji?" he exclaimed.

"I-Ichigo?" Renji stammered.

They both let go of the rabbit at the same time, and then seized it again.

"She gave you friendship chocolate too?" Ichigo snarled, grinning wolfishly as he struggled for possession of the bunny.

"'Course she did," Renji grunted in reply, tightening his grip on the plushy. "I want to give her something to say that I want to be more than friends. What's your excuse?"

Ichigo's brow furrowed, his mind suddenly going blank. Renji, sensing his distraction, gave a sudden yank and the stuffed animal flew out of Ichigo's hands. He lost balance and toppled backwards into a shelf, narrowly avoiding smashing his head on a giant white Buddha statue. He sprang to his feet but somehow Renji was already at the cash register, paying for the bunny.

"Bastard!" Ichigo yelled.

The other man smirked and saluted before he dashed out the door with Ichigo in hot pursuit.

"So long sucker!" Renji called over his shoulder, disappearing away down the street.

Ichigo halted just outside the store door, staring after where Tatooed-Eyebrows had ran off. For someone in a gigai, he was damn fast. Ichigo turned back to the store to enter again, hoping to find something else, but the manager quickly flipped over the "CLOSED" sign, pulling the blinds down on the windows. All down the street, he could see the other shops closing up for the night, and he sighed, leaning back against the cool glass of the shop windows. Why did he have to wait until the night before white day to go shopping?

Rukia lived in Soul Society normally, but she came to visit a lot, staying in his closet everytime. He'd come to look forward to every one of her trips to the Living World, but now he couldn't even tell her how grateful he was for her with a present, because stupid Renji had stolen it.

Grateful wasn't the right word for it anyway. How to describe the thing between him and Rukia...

He didn't even know how.

Ichigo shivered as he walked away down the street, feeling the bite of the cold. He was wearing only a white zip-up sweater that was far too small for him, the sleeves cutting high on his forearms, over a black t-shirt. He hadn't paid attention to what he was putting on when he had finally decided to take the chance and buy something for Rukia.

A horrible image entered his brain: Renji giving Rukia the bunny, and her accepting it, her face shining, her small hand reaching up to cup his cheek, him bending down towards her, their faces angling towards each other-

He swore under his breath, shaking his head to dislodge the image. He'd rather fight Byakuya again then let that happen. He didn't need to analyze why he didn't want that to happen. He just knew that he didn't. But he had nothing to give her.

A store across the street caught his eye, the only one still open. It was a fabric shop, looking weary under the darkening sky, but that wasn't what he noticed first. No, it was the bolt of white fabric in the window, almost glowing. He glanced down at his sweater, than over at the shop. After a moment's hesitation, he dashed across the street.

He was going to need Ishida's help.

* * *

"Ichigo?"

Rukia knocked on his bedroom door as quietly as possible, then creaked it open and poked her head inside. It was empty. Where was he? It was past 12:00 now, and a new day had technically started, but he still wasn't in his room. She had come back late from visiting Inoue, expecting to have to explain her tardiness to Ichigo, but instead, he wasn't even here.

For some reason, that annoyed her a little. It wasn't as if she visited every week. He could try to be around when she was here.

Just as she was about to go into the room and turn in for the night, she noticed a thin ribbon of light coming out from underneath a door at the far end of the hall. She tiptoed down and paused in front of it. This was the old office of Ichigo's mother. She remembered him telling her that. She had never seen anyone enter it, but now she eased the door open and slipped inside.

Ichigo was slumped over on a desk, obviously asleep, one hand flung across a sewing machine, the other hanging by his side. His mouth was slightly open, his orange hair flopping down in front of his eyes. But the strangest part was that he was wearing a white zip-up sweater, with bunny ears sewn onto the hood.

Rukia crept closer, holding her breath as she approached him. She reached out, wondering vaguely if this was a dream, and touched the ears, feeling fuzzy fabric underneath her hands. Her mouth stretched up into a huge grin and she crouched down, turning her head sideways so she could gaze at his sleeping face.

"You're adorable!" she whispered, now firmly convinced that this was a particularly bizarre dream. "Adorable chappy Ichigo!"

She tugged on a spike of soft orange hair before giving in to the strange new urge to trail her hand down the side of his cheek. Oh, who cares? It's a dream. Rukia found herself slipping nearer to him, until she could feel the tickle of his breath on her skin. She didn't even know what she was doing, but there was something in the hesitance, in that moment where she wasn't moving but she was so close that a slight shift would cause her lips to touch his. There was something there between them, the poetry of the waiting, that made a shiver race across her body.

And then Ichigo blinked open one eye.

"Rukia?" he said, his voice low and rough with sleep.

She let out a ridiculous squeal and practically leaped across the room away from him, but he snagged her wrist in one hand, holding her as he sat up dazedly. I guess this isn't a dream, she thought, feeling somewhat hysterical at the idea of what she had just been doing.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked slowly, rubbing at his eyes. Rukia bit her lip, almost unable to contain her glee: as tall as he was, he looked like a child right now, the bunny ears sticking up at spastic angles.

"I was looking for you," she replied. "It's late. It's after 12:00. It's tomorrow now!"

Realization seemed to come into his eyes, and he looked down at himself, a blush flaring across his face.

"Oh shit," he said, his hands wavering in the air over the sweater. "I didn't mean to...I just put it on because I was cold..." He gave up and rested his head on his hand, leaning on his elbow and glaring at the wall. "This is for you."

"What?" Rukia repeated, not certain that she'd heard him right.

He finally looked at her, looking as though he was expecting to get kicked in the face.

"Happy White Day," he mumbled.

Rukia felt her throat swell up and she stepped forward, hyper aware of his fingers on her arm. She remembered giving him chocolate on Valentine's Day, then freaking out, hoping he wouldn't think weirdly of her for giving it to just him, and whipping up another batch for Renji and Ichigo's dad. But he had made something for her in return.

"I know you like rabbits," Ichigo said awkwardly, reaching up to unzip the sweater. "Here, you have it-"

She put her hand on his, stopping him from unzipping it.

"I like it on you," she said quietly.

He stared up at her, and she felt it again in their eye contact: that shimmer of anticipation, the burn of not knowing, but hoping, without even understanding what it was you were hoping for.

"Pervert," he muttered.

She felt her jaw drop open and she bent forward, stabbing her finger into his chest.

"I am not a pervert! I just like bunnies! And I happen to think you look cute as a bunny!"

She clamped her mouth shut, feeling mortified as she watched the grin move over his face.

"Maybe we could share it," Ichigo whispered, tilting his head and leaning forward so his words were spoken with his mouth against the curve of her neck. "Because I have a feeling that you'd look cute as a bunny too."

She caught her breath, not daring to move.

"I..we could try that."

* * *

Grateful was definitely not the right word for it. How to describe the thing between him and Rukia...

Ichigo didn't know what it was.

But he had a feeling that he would like finding out.


End file.
